After overcoming a sluggish start, the University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball team advanced to the NCAA national semifinals with a 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23 win over Penn State at the quarterfinals in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday.
Hawai‘i improved to 27-5, while Penn State's season ended at 15-16 overall.
In a match that started at 7:30 a.m. HST, the Nittany Lions pounced on the Rainbow Warriors early, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set. The 'Bows were able to settle down from there and were led by freshman Finn Kearney's 16 kills.
UH had previously swept Penn State on March 14 at the Outrigger Invitational, but after the match, UH head coach Charlie Wade acknowledged they had vastly improved since then.
"That's a lot better team than we played in March," Wade said in the post-match press conference. "Thrilled to be on the court with them and then the obvious, thrilled to advance to the semifinals. It's a fun accomplishment for this group."
The No. 2 seed Rainbow Warriors advance to face No. 3 UCLA in Saturday's semifinals. The Bruins swept No. 6 Belmont Abbey prior to UH's match on Thursday.
Hawai‘i has not played against UCLA, the two-time defending national champion, since losing to the Bruins in the 2023 national championship match.
On Thursday, the Rainbow Warriors were again without freshman opposite Kristian Titriyski, who has not played since suffering a lower leg injury on April 5. Wade acknowledged that Titriyski practiced with the team for the first time as a full participant prior to the team's departure for Columbus.
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
